Roma captain Francesco Totti has launched a scathing attack on the state of Chievo's pitch.

The talismanic playmaker feels that the terrible conditions contributed to Roma's inability to hold on to a 2-0 lead in Verona.

Roma were pegged back to a 2-2 scoreline and now lie eighth in Serie A, 10 points adrift of League leaders Milan after 15 games.

Writing in Il Corriere dello Sport ahead of Wednesday's all-important clash with Cluj in Romania, Totti pulled no punches in his criticism.

"The last two League games both offered us big opportunities to reach the positions close to the top of the table," Totti wrote.

"But for various reasons we managed to only come away with one point from two away games. We didn't play to our abilities against Palermo. We faced a well-organised team who punished us in the second half.

"The game against Chievo was a strange game, above all because the conditions penalised us and in these cases the most technical team is the one that suffers the most damage.

"It was a totally unplayable pitch on which a rugby match and three football matches had been played in the space of 10 days. A pitch full of hidden dangers, which represented a danger to the players on the pitch. We founds ourselves 2-0 up, but weren't able to hold on this advantage in the second half.

"A victory would have allowed us to make a big jump in the table. Sure, it becomes difficult to explain how a team can comeback against us at 2-0 down. But there are plenty of reasons. The equaliser came from a series of negative episodes and above all because of the conditions of the pitch, which impeded our ability to manage the game with ball possession during the second half.

"Today a tough trip to Romania awaits us where the qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League is decided.

"Getting through the group stages would mean the realisation an objective we fixed at the start of the season and then we can then concentrate on the League until February."